- Trump regime admits to 11 more maritime murders
Source: NBC News
“U.S. Southern Command announced that the military launched strikes on three alleged drug smuggling boats in the eastern Pacific and the Caribbean on Monday, [murdering] 11 people. … U.S. Southern Command alleged the three boats were ‘operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations.’ The post referred to those [murdered] as ‘male narco-terrorists,’ saying that eight people were killed on two boats in the eastern Pacific and three were [murdered] on a boat in the Caribbean. No U.S. troops were harmed, the post said. The post also said the strikes were conducted at the direction of Marine Corps Gen. Francis Donovan, who serves as the commander of U.S. Southern Command.” (02/17/26)
- Ukraine war: Peace talks set to continue after “very tense” six-hour summit sees no breakthrough
Source: Independent [UK]
“Peace talks between Russian, Ukrainian and American negotiators are set to resume in Geneva today after a ‘very tense’ session on Tuesday. Six hours of talks took place on Tuesday in a mixture of two-way and three-way formats but yielded no breakthrough,a source told Russian news agencies. ‘They agreed to continue’ on Wednesday, the source said. US special envoy Steve Witkoff said the talks ‘brought about meaningful progress’ in Donald Trump’s push to end the Ukraine war. Earlier, Volodymyr Zelensky said the US president was exerting undue pressure on the Ukrainian side during the peace process.” (02/18/26)
- Peru: Congress removes interim President Jerí as he faces corruption allegations
Source: Toronto Star [Canada]
“Peru’s Congress on Tuesday voted to remove interim President José Jerí from office as he faces corruption allegations, triggering a fresh wave of political instability just weeks before the nation’s April presidential election. Jerí is under a preliminary investigation into corruption and influence peddling, stemming from a series of undisclosed meetings with two Chinese executives. With 75 votes in favor, 24 against and 3 abstentions, Peru’s legislature voted to remove Jerí from the position he had assumed on Oct. 10. His predecessor, Dina Boluarte, was dismissed as a crime wave gripped the country. Jerí’s removal from office is the latest chapter in a prolonged political crisis in a country that has seen seven presidents since 2016, and is about to hold a general election amid widespread public outcry over the surge in violent crime.” (02/17/26)
- Bayer agrees to $7.25 billion proposed settlement over thousands of Roundup cancer lawsuits
Source: Associated Press
“Agrochemical maker Bayer and attorneys for cancer patients announced a proposed $7.25 billion settlement Tuesday to resolve thousands of U.S. lawsuits alleging the company failed to warn people that its popular weedkiller Roundup could cause cancer. The proposed settlement comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is preparing to hear arguments in April on Bayer’s assertion that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s approval of Roundup without a cancer warning should invalidate claims filed in state courts. That case would not be affected by the proposed settlement. But the settlement would eliminate some of the risk from an eventual Supreme Court ruling. Patients would be assured of receiving settlement money even if the Supreme Court rules in Bayer’s favor. And Bayer would be protected from potentially larger costs if the high court rules against it.” (02/17/26)
- Iran: Regime says progress made in nuclear talks with US regime after partial closure of Strait of Hormuz
Source: CBC News [Canadian state media]
“Iran and the United States reached an understanding on the main ‘guiding principles’ in a second round of nuclear talks in Geneva on Tuesday, but work still needs to be done, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said. … After the exchange of documents, the two sides will decide on a date for a third round of negotiations, he said. The U.S. has sent a battle force to the Middle East to press Tehran to make concessions in the decades-long nuclear dispute and President Donald Trump has said ‘regime change’ in Tehran may be the best thing that can happen. Iranian state media reported earlier that Iran would temporarily shut part of the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global oil supply route, as it held talks over its nuclear program with the United States, which has sent a battle force to the Gulf region to press Tehran to make concessions.” (02/17/26)
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/iran-strait-of-hormuz-nucleur-talks-united-states-9.7093310
- GA: Driver fleeing violent gang members crashes, killing teacher
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
“A Guatemalan driver fleeing a Georgia traffic stop by federal immigration officers crashed into another vehicle, killing a teacher who was headed to work, authorities and school officials said. Oscar Vasquez Lopez, the driver accused of causing the Monday crash just outside of Savannah, remained jailed Tuesday on charges including vehicular homicide, reckless driving and driving without a valid license. Lopez, 38, is in the U.S. illegally [sic], according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Immigration officers were looking for Lopez to enforce an immigration judge’s 2024 deportation order, ICE spokesperson Lindsay Williams said Tuesday, noting that Lopez has no other [sic] criminal history.” (02/17/26)
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2026/02/17/immigration-enforcement-fatal-crash/
- Secession often is desirable
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton“A New Mexico state representative has again filed a constitutional amendment that would allow three or more contiguous counties in the State to vote to secede if at least 15% of the counties’ electorate sign a petition to put the question on the ballot and then there is a simple majority vote. While no one expects the bill to even get out of committee, it shows that secession from States is still considered a valid and desirable action in many States.” (02/17/26)
https://thepriceofliberty.org/2026/02/17/secession-often-is-desirable/
- San Jose Can Protect Immigrants by Ending Flock Surveillance System
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Jennifer Pinsof“As ICE and other federal agencies continue their assault on civil liberties, local leaders are stepping up to protect their communities. This includes pushing back against automated license plate readers, or ALPRs, which are tools of mass surveillance that can be weaponized against immigrants, political dissidents and other targets. In recent weeks, Mountain View, Los Altos Hills, Santa Cruz, East Palo Alto and Santa Clara County have begun reconsidering their ALPR programs. San Jose should join them. This dangerous technology poses an unacceptable risk to the safety of immigrants and other vulnerable populations.” (02/17/26)
- Mission Accomplished? A Reality Check on Trump’s Tariffs
Source: The Daily Economy
by Caleb S Fuller & Scott Burns“At the end of January, President Trump penned a triumphant op-ed declaring ‘Mission Accomplished’ for the signature economic policy of his second term: tariffs. Unfortunately, his entire victory lap revolved around phony numbers, cherry-picked facts, and a strawman caricature of his critics’ arguments. Trump began by claiming all the ‘so-called experts’ predicted his tariffs would trigger ‘a global economic meltdown.’ Instead, he boasts, they’ve ushered in ‘an American economic miracle.’ He’s wrong on both counts.” (02/17/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/economists-were-right-about-trumps-tariffs/
- The First Rosa Parks Was Claudette Colvin
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Wendy McElroy“Rosa Parks’s death on October 24, 2005, was met with tributes from across America and around the world to memorialize the impressive role she played in the Civil Rights Movement. On December 1, 1955, Parks refused to give up her seat to a white man on a crowded Montgomery, Alabama, bus. Instead, the 42-year-old black woman defied Jim Crow segregation laws and local customs …. Parks’s ensuing arrest for disorderly conduct rallied the city and state’s black community, which staged a one-day bus boycott by blacks on December 5. It was almost 100 percent effective, and its amazing success sparked the much larger 1955–1956 Montgomery bus boycott, which lasted over 300 days, and from which Martin Luther King, Jr., emerged as the primary leader of the movement. … A woman named Claudette Colvin died on January 13, 2026, to far less acclaim than Parks received two decades earlier.” (02/17/26)
https://www.fff.org/explore-freedom/article/the-first-rosa-parks-was-claudette-colvin/
- The Meaning of the “Rules-Based” Order and 75 Years of NATO
Source: Antiwar.com
by David S D’Amato“The Munich Security Conference is underway, and both American and European politicians have taken the opportunity to lament the end of the old ‘rules-based’ order. The problem is that the order to which they refer never truly existed. With a quarter century of the new millennium behind us, we have an opportune time to reflect upon the international system that has defined this new period. The decades between the fall of the Berlin Wall and the present day bore witness to several important and unprecedented military interventions that give shape and structure to this new world order. Perhaps the most pivotal of these episodes was the United States-led attack on Yugoslavia in the last months of the twentieth century.” (02/17/26)
- The World Has Turned and Left Me Here
Source: Reason
by Eric Boehm“Much of President Donald Trump’s economic policy rests on the idea that the United States doesn’t need global trade in order to prosper. A sizable portion of the rest of the world might be ready to put that sentiment to the test. Canada, Mexico, the European Union, the United Kingdom, and 11 wealthy nations across the Indo-Pacific region are taking the first steps toward a globe-spanning trade deal that would encompass nearly 40 nations and over 1.5 billion people …. Though it is a long way from a done deal, the attempt to link most of the world’s largest non-U.S., non-China economies into a single economic bloc is perhaps the most significant sign that the rest of the world is preparing for a future where America is no longer pushing for open markets and free trade. But it is not the only sign.” (02/17/26)
https://reason.com/2026/02/17/the-world-has-turned-and-left-me-here/
- The Political and Personal Case for Linux (Yes, I Am Talking to You)
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“You probably use a computer — in fact, you’re probably reading this column on a computer. For 72% of you, that computer is the ubiquitous ‘standard’ Windows PC or laptop. For 20% of you, it’s a Mac. The other 8% of you oddballs mostly use Linux or (Linux-based) ChromeOS. I know the 92% of you who use Windows or macOS get tired of the cool kids telling you this, but it should be the other way around. Almost everyone should be using Linux almost all the time. Instead of leading off with the technical reasons why, though, I want to hit you with the political, and personal financial, reasons for making the switch.” (02/17/26)
- Chatting with Ben about his (and our) challenges
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by Scott Baldauf“It’s not every day that a reporter gets an email from Ben Franklin. In the course of reporting a story on historical reenactors from the American Revolutionary War period, I was in regular email contact with two Ben Franklins, one George Washington, and an 18th-century tavern owner from the British colony of New Hampshire. One of the Bens invited me to read his Substack column. It reads exactly like Ben Franklin would have written it if he did, in fact, live in a society that had capitalized on the newly discovered energy source of electricity, taken a magical carriage ride through the Industrial Age to the computer age, and ditched typeset printing tools for digital publishing. Why would a Monitor reporter do any of this? The answer is right there in the headlines we read (or avoid reading) every day.” (02/17/26)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Editorials/From-the-Editors/2026/0217/founding-fathers-wisdom
- Why Politicians Should Stay Inside the Overton Window (Even When the Cause Is Just)
Source: Bet On It
by “Chris Andrews”“The politics of immigration show how positions far outside the center can undermine achievable reforms. Public opinion currently opposes the Trump administration and ICE tactics, but most voters also don’t support dramatic departures from existing immigration laws, such as open borders or blanket protections for all undocumented immigrants. During the year of our last presidential election, polling suggested voters still prefer Republicans to Democrats on immigration. Voters seemed uneasy with the Biden administration’s policies, associated with limits on deportations and reduced interior enforcement.” (02/17/26)
- Trump Watch, 02/17/26
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
“FDR’s Oil Siege Got Us into WWII.” (02/17/26)
- The Good Fight, 02/17/26
Source: Yascha Mounk
“Jacob Savage on the Costs of the Great Awokening.” (02/17/26)